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Heidi Roizen is a managing director for Mobius Venture Capital. She joined the fund in April 1999. Ms. Roizen serves as a director of AuctionDrop, Ecast, InStoreCard, MessageCast, Perpetual Entertainment, Planitax, and Reactrix. She is also a board member of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). Her notable prior board service includes Great Plains Software, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2001. Prior to joining Mobius Venture Capital, Ms. Roizen was a consultant to numerous technology companies, including Microsoft, Intel and Compaq. From 1996 to 1997, she was vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations for Apple Computer. Before joining Apple Computer, Ms. Roizen served for 13 years as CEO of T/Maker Company, a successful software developer and publisher. She is a past president of the Software Publishers Association and has served as a public governor of the Pacific Exchange. Ms. Roizen has been recognized as one of the 100 most influential people in the microcomputer industry by MicroTimes, Personal Computing Magazine and Upside Magazine. Ms. Roizen has a B.A. and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.
Frank H. Levinson founded Finisar in April 1987 and has served as a member of our Board of Directors since February 1988 and as our Chairman of the Board and Chief Technical Officer since August 1999. Mr. Levinson also served as our Chief Executive Officer from February 1988 to August 1999. From September 1980 to December 1983, Mr. Levinson was a Member of Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories. From January 1984 to July 1984, he was a Member of Technical Staff at Bellcore, a provider of services and products to the communications industry. From April 1985 to December 1985, Mr. Levinson was the principal optical scientist at Raychem Corporation, and from January 1986 to February 1988, he was Optical Department Manager at Raynet, Inc., a fiber optic systems company. Mr. Levinson holds a B.S. in Mathematics/Physics from Butler University and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Virginia.
Carol Bartz is executive chairman of the board of Autodesk, Inc. Bartz was chairman, president and CEO of Autodesk for 14 years and stepped-down in April, 2006. During her tenure, the company diversified its product line and grew revenues from $285 million to $1.523 billion in FY06. Bartz previously held positions at Sun Microsystems, 11 years ago serving as vice president of worldwide field operations and an executive officer of the company. Before joining Sun, she held product line and sales management positions at Digital Equipment Corporation and 3M Corporation. Appointed to President Bush's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Bartz is one of a select group of industry leaders expected to play a key role in shaping and setting the government's high tech agenda-ranging from R&D funding to new broadband incentives. She also serves on the Board of Directors of BEA Systems, Cisco Systems, Network Appliance, and the Foundation for the National Medals of Science and Technology. Bartz holds an honors degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin. She was granted an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from William Woods University.
Unless you have a strong team at the top, you and your company will struggle under the weight of growth. Knowing how to select, manage and lead a Top Team is one of the secrets to growth.
People infected with HIV, whether or not they have AIDS symptoms, are protected in the workplace by federal and state laws concerning discrimination and disability. These guidelines for education, testing and accommodation policies can help entrepreneurs avoid problems.
When Michele McGeoy sold her first software start-up, she thought she was doing the best thing for her stakeholders. But, a few years later the new owners resold the company out of state, leaving her and her employees out of work. Having lost control by giving up ownership, McGeoy found a better solution for her next venture: She empowered employees by making them stakeholders and created a culture that promotes healthy growth.
Age is an issue for today's entrepreneurs, especially those in technology-based businesses, writes the author, who founded an Internet company right out of college. Younger entrepreneurs, he argues, are more likely than their elders to be technologically astute and to be creative and flexible, attributes that are integral to their companies and enable those enterprises to succeed. The author includes tips for using youth as an advantage in business.
Entrepreneurs of a certain age need to accommodate the changes in attitude on the part of the younger generation or risk becoming dinosaurs, writes the author, who turned to entrepreneurship after a career in the U.S. Army and at a major corporation. Today's young people are technologically savvy, casual about dress and deportment, and forward about expecting to advance at a younger age, he says. He includes tips for adjusting one's management style to help -- rather than change -- the new generation.
Entrepreneurs, in particular, are having troubles with today's widespread age-disconnect between managers and employees. The many twentysomethings who are launching companies these days hire workers who are both younger and older than they are, writes the author, a frequent EntreWorld contributor. She maintains that to manage this so-called "generation gap," you'll need to build a common understanding based on your company's values.
If you think hiring is tough in today's tight labor market, you should figure that retaining people is even tougher. To keep employees, small-company owners must provide more than just competitive compensation packages, the author writes. What really makes the difference is a CEO's ability to communicate an organizational vision and to recognize the people who translate that vision into revenue and profit.
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